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A historical region of western Romania bounded by the Transylvanian Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. Part of the Roman province of Dacia after A.D. 107, it was later overrun by Germanic peoples and came under Hungarian rule in 1003. Transylvania passed to various powers over the following centuries and finally became part of modern-day Romania after World War II.
Transylvanian Tran'syl·va'ni·an adj. & n.
For more information on Transylvania, visit Britannica.com.
Economically and culturally one of the most advanced regions of Romania, Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt, and sulfur. There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production, and fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource. Sizable Hungarian and German minorities, as well as Gypsies, live in Transylvania.
History
The area now constituting Transylvania became part of the Roman Empire in A.D. 107. After the withdrawal (A.D. 271) of the Romans from the region it was overrun, between the 3d and 10th cent., by the Visigoths, the Huns, the Gepidae, the Avars, and the Slavs. The Magyar tribes first entered the region in the 5th cent., but they did not fully control it until 1003, when King Stephen I placed it under the Hungarian crown. The valleys in the east and southeast were settled by the Székely, a people akin to the Magyars. It is not known, however, whether they came into Transylvania with or before the Magyars.
In the 12th and 13th cent. the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called (then and now) Saxons. Siebenbürgen, the German name for Transylvania, derives from the seven principal fortified towns founded there by the Saxons. The German influence became more marked when, early in the 13th cent., King Andrew II of Hungary called on the Teutonic Knights to protect Transylvania from the Cumans, who were followed (1241) by the Mongol invaders. Large numbers of Romanians, called Vlachs or Walachians, were in the region by 1222, although the exact date that their penetration began is disputed. Originally seminomadic shepherds, the Vlachs soon settled down to agriculture.
The administration of Transylvania was in the hands of a royal governor, or voivode, who by the mid-13th cent. controlled the whole region. Society was divided into three privileged “nations,” the Magyars, the Székely, and the Saxons. These “nations,” however, corresponded to social rather than strictly ethnic divisions. Although the nonprivileged class of serfs consisted mostly of Vlachs, it also included some people of Saxon, Székely, and Magyar origin. A few Vlachs, notably John Hunyadi, hero of the Turkish wars, joined the ranks of the nobility. After the suppression (1437) of a peasant revolt the three “nations” solemnly renewed their union; the rebels were cruelly repressed, and serfdom became more firmly entrenched than ever.
When the main Hungarian army and King Louis II were slain (1526) in the battle of Mohács, John Zapolya, voivode of Transylvania, took advantage of his military strength and put himself at the head of the nationalist Hungarian party, which opposed the succession of Ferdinand of Austria (later Emperor Ferdinand I) to the Hungarian throne. As John I he was elected king of Hungary, while another party recognized Ferdinand. In the ensuing struggle Zapolya received the support of Sultan Sulayman I, who after Zapolya's death (1540) overran central Hungary on the pretext of protecting Zapolya's son, John II. Hungary was now divided into three sections: W Hungary, under Austrian rule; central Hungary, under Turkish rule; and semi-independent Transylvania, where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries.
The Hungarian magnates of Transylvania resorted to a policy of duplicity in order to preserve independence. The Báthory family, which came to power on the death (1571) of John II, ruled Transylvania as princes under Ottoman, and briefly under Hapsburg, suzerainty until 1602, but their rule was interrupted by the incursion of Michael the Brave of Walachia and by Austrian military intervention. In 1604, Stephen Bocskay led a rebellion against Austrian rule, and in 1606 he was recognized by the emperor as prince of Transylvania. Under Bocskay's successors—especially Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczy—Transylvania had its golden age. The principality was the chief center of Hungarian culture and humanism, the main bulwark of Protestantism in E Europe, and the only European country where Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians lived in mutual tolerance. Orthodox Romanians, however, were denied equal rights.
After the Turkish defeat near Vienna (1683), Transylvania vainly battled the growing Austrian influence, and its alliance with Turkey under Emeric Thököly and with France under Francis II Rákóczy proved fatal to its independence. In 1711, Austrian control was definitely established over all Hungary and Transylvania, and the princes of Transylvania were replaced by Austrian governors. The proclamation (1765) of Transylvania as a grand principality was a mere formality. The pressure of Austrian bureaucratic rule gradually eroded the traditional independence of Transylvania. In 1791 the Romanians petitioned Leopold II of Austria for recognition as the fourth “nation” of Transylvania and for religious equality. The Transylvanian diet rejected their demands, restoring the Romanians to their old status.
In 1848 the Magyars proclaimed the union of Transylvania with Hungary, promising the Romanians abolition of serfdom in return for their support against Austria. The Romanians rejected the offer and instead rose against the Magyar national state. In the fighting that followed (1849) between the Hungarians and the Austro-Russian forces (supported by the Romanians and most of the Saxons), the Hungarian republic of Louis Kossuth was suppressed. The ensuing period of Austrian military government (1849–60) was disastrous for the Magyars but greatly benefited the Romanian peasants, who were given land and otherwise favored by the Austrian authorities. However, in the compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867, which established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Transylvania became an integral part of Hungary, and the Romanians, having tasted equality, were once more subjected to Magyar domination.
After World War I the Romanians of Transylvania proclaimed at a convention at Alba Iulia (1918) their union with Romania. Transylvania was then seized by Romania and was formally ceded by Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon (1920). The expropriation of the estates of Magyar magnates, the distribution of the lands to the Romanian peasants, and the policy of cultural Romanianization that followed were major causes of friction between Hungary and Romania. It was now the turn of the Magyar and German nationalists to complain of Romanian oppression. During World War II, Hungary annexed (1940) N Transylvania, which was, however, returned to Romania after the war. Many of the Saxons of Transylvania fled to Germany before the arrival of the Soviet army, and more followed after the fall of the Communist government in 1989.
Bibliography
See K. Verdery, Transylvanian Villagers: Three Centuries of Political, Economic, and Ethnic Change (1983); M. G. Lehrer, Transylvania: History and Reality (1987).
Transylvania (Romanian: Ardeal or Transilvania; Hungarian: Erdély;
German: Siebenbürgen (help·
In its early history, the territory of present-day Transylvania belonged to Dacia, the Roman Empire, the Hun Empire and the Gepid Kingdom[1]. As a political entity, Transylvania is mentioned from the 11th century (after the Hungarian conquest) as a voivodship, part of the Kingdom of Hungary. It then successively became an autonomous principality under Ottoman suzerainty in 1571, a part of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1711 (Austria-Hungary after 1867), and a part of the Kingdom of Romania after World War I.
Transylvania's main city, Cluj-Napoca, is today considered to be the region's capital, although Transylvania was also ruled from Alba Iulia during its vassalage to the Ottoman Empire, and from Sibiu, where the Habsburg governor was located from 1711 until 1848. The seat of the Transylvanian Diet was itself moved to Sibiu for some time in the 19th century.
Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as Ultra silvam, meaning "beyond the forest" (ultra meaning "beyond, on the other side" and the accusative case of sylva (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest"). That name was later changed to "Transylvania" (trans also meaning "across, over, beyond").
The German name Siebenbürgen means "seven fortresses", after the seven (ethnic German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region (Kronstadt, Schäßburg, Mediasch, Hermannstadt, Mühlbach, Bistritz and Klausenburg). The Hungarian name Erdély is derived from Erdő-elve meaning "beyond the forest" in Hungarian (a meaning first referred to in its Medieval Latin version in a 12th century document - Gesta Hungarorum).
The origin of the Romanian name Ardeal is controversial. Ardeal - as Ardeliu - was first referred to in a document in 1432. It may be a borrowing from the Khazar “Ardil-land” (Hebrew „Eretz Ardil”, „ארדיל”), first mentioned in 960. It could be likewise borrowed from the Celtic "Arduenna" (forest), reflected in other names such as Arda, Ardal, Ardistan, Ardiche, Ardennes, Ardelt, Ardilla or from the Sanskrit Har-Deal. Lastly, it may be a borrowing of the Hungarian name Erdély, as is the Romani name Ardyalo - in old Hungarian, Erdély was pronounced as Erdél. The initial Hungarian e- occasionally changes to a in Romanian (cf. Hung. egres "gooseberry" and Egyed, which became agriş and Adjud in Romanian). See also other languages.
The kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC
and it reached its maximum extent under
In 101-102 and 105-106, Trajan, the Roman emperor, fought a military campaign against the Dacians, known as the Dacian Wars. He managed to vanquish them and after the suicide of Decebalus parts of Dacia were incorporated into the Roman province Dacia Trajana. The Romans built mines, access roads and forts to protect them. Colonists from other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land and cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj-Napoca) appeared. The Dacians rebelled frequently and due to increasing pressure from them and the Visigoths in 271, the Emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia Trajana.
The former Dacia Trajana province was controlled by the Visigoths and Carpians until they were in turn displaced and subdued by the Huns in 376, under the leadership of Attila. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, the rules of Gepids of Avars succeeded. The region was also influenced during this period by massive Slavic migration. At the beginning of the 9th century, Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire followed by Magyar tribes linking it to the Principality of Hungary.
The early 11th century was marked by the conflict between King Stephen I of Hungary and his maternal uncle Gyula, the ruler of Transylvania. After the defeat of the latter, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Transylvanian Roman Catholic bishopric and the comitatus system were organised. By the 12th century the Szeklers were established in eastern and southeastern Transylvania as border guards and in the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called Transylvanian Saxons. In 1241-1242, during the Mongol invasion, Transylvania was devastated and a large portion of the population perished. In 1285, there was another Mongol invasion in Transylvania, led by Nogai Khan.
Transylvania was organized according to the system of Estates, which were privileged groups (universitates) with power and influence in socio-economic and political life, being nonetheless organized according to certain ethnic criteria as well. The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus. The other Estates were Saxons, Szeklers and Romanians (or Vlachs - Universitas Valachorum), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et Olachis). The general assembly (congregatio generalis) of the four Estates had mainly supra-legislative powers in Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country, relationships between the privileged, military issues, etc.
After the Decree of Turda (1366), which openly called for "to expel or to exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians" in Transylvania, the only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility was through conversion to Roman Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, being integrated in the Hungarian nobility, but the most of them declined, thus losing their status and privileges.
In some border regions (Maramureş, Ţara Haţegului) the Orthodox Romanian ruling class of nobilis kenezius (classed as lower nobility in the Kingdom as a whole) had the same rights as the Hungarian nobilis conditionarius. Nevertheless, because of the gradual loss of a nobility of its own, Romanians were no longer able to keep their Universitas Valachorum.
After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political system was based on Unio Trium Nationum (The Union of the Three Nations). According to the Union, which was explicitly directed against serfs and other peasants, society was ruled by three privileged Estates or nations (Nationes), the nobility (mostly Magyars), the Szekelys, and the Saxon burghers.
A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John Hunyadi. His subsequent military exploits against the Ottoman Empire brought him further status as the governor of Hungary in 1446 and papal recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. John Hunyadi was also the father of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.
The 16th century was marked by the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire. After Sultan Suleiman I overran central Hungary and established there the Turkish rule (see Ottoman Hungary), Transylvania became a semi-independent region where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries.
Due to the fact that Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic religious authority, Protestant preaching such as Lutheranism and Calvinism were able to flourish. In 1568 the Edict of Turda proclaimed four religious expressions -Catholic, Lutheranism, Calvinism and Unitarianism - as "accepted" (receptae), while Orthodoxy, which was the confession of the Romanian population, was proclaimed as "tolerated" (tolerata). The Edict of Turda is considered by mostly Hungarian historians as the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe.
The Báthory family came to power in 1571 and ruled Transylvania as princes under the Ottomans, and briefly under Habsburg suzerainty, until 1600. The latter period of their rule saw a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanians, the Austrians, the Ottomans, and the Wallachian voivod Michael the Brave. The latter gained control of Transylvania in 1599 after the Battle of Şelimbăr and succeeded in uniting the three principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (the three main parts of present-day Romania). The union did not last long, however, as Michael was assassinated by mercenaries under the command of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta in August 1601. Basta swore allegiance to the Habsburg Emperor, Rudolph II and by 1604 reclaimed the principality for Catholicism through the Counter Reformation.
The Calvinist magnate of Bihar county
Stephen Bocskai managed to obtain, through the Peace of Vienna (June 23, 1606), religious liberty and
political autonomy, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all "unrighteous" judgments, and a complete
retroactive amnesty for all Hungarians in Royal Hungary, as well as his own recognition as
independent sovereign prince of an enlarged Transylvania. Under Bocskai's successors Transylvania passed through a period of
flourishment both for the religious movements and for the arts and culture. It was one of the few European countries where
Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and
After the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs gradually began to impose their rule on the formerly autonomous Transylvania. Apart from strengthening the central government and administration, the Habsburgs also promoted the Roman Catholic Church, both as a uniting force and also as an instrument to reduce the influence of the Protestant nobility. In addition, they tried to persuade Romanian Orthodox clergymen to join the Greek (Byzantine Rite) Catholic Church in union with Rome. As a response to this policy, several peaceful movements of the Romanian Orthodox population advocated for freedom of worship for all the Transylvanian population, most notably being the movements led by Visarion Sarai, Nicolae Oprea Miclăuş and Sofronie of Cioara.
From 1711 onward, the princes of Transylvania were replaced with Austrian governors and in 1765 Transylvania was declared a grand principality.
The revolutionary year 1848 was marked by a great struggle between the Hungarians, the Romanians and the Habsburg Empire. Warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops, under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish general Józef Bem. He carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania, and Avram Iancu managed to retreat to the harsh terrain of the Apuseni Mountains, mounting a guerrilla campaign on Bem's forces. After the intervention by the armies of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Bem's army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Temesvár (Timişoara) on 9 August 1849.
Having quashed the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary, ruled Transylvania directly through a military governor and granted citizenship to the Romanians. However, in the Ausgleich of 1867, which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the special status of Transylvania ended and it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. The new unity of Austria-Hungary created a process of Magyarization affecting Transylvania's Romanians and German Saxons.
The 300-year long separate status of Transylvania came to an end after the Compromise from 1867. On 20 June 1867, the Diet was dissolved by royal decree, and an ordinance abrogated the legislative acts of the Sibiu provincial assembly. The department of the interior inherited the responsibilities of the Transylvanian Gubernium, and the government reserved the right to name Transylvania's royal magistrates as well the Saxon bailiff of the Universitas Saxorum. Hungarian legislation also came to supersede the Austrian code of civil procedure, penal law, commercial law, and regulations for bills of exchange.
Since the Austro-Hungarian empire had begun to disintegrate after the end of the First World War, the nationalities living inside proclaimed their independence from the empire. The 1228-member National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary, headed by leaders of Transylvania's Romanian National Party and Social Democratic Party, passed a resolution calling for unification of all Romanians in a single state on 1 December in Alba Iulia. This was approved by the National Council of the Germans from Transylvania and the Council of the Danube Swabians from the Banat, on 15 December in Mediaş. In response, the Hungarian General Assembly of Cluj reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary on December 22, 1918. (See also: Union of Transylvania with Romania)
The
In August 1940, the second Vienna Award gave the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary but after the Treaty of Paris (1947) at the end of the Second World War the territory was returned to Romania. The post-WWII borders with Hungary, agreed on at the Treaty of Paris were identical with those set out in 1920.
The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations in Transylvania's coat of arms. It depicts:
(The red dividing band was originally not part of the coat of arms.)
 Coat of Arms of 1659 |
 Landesfarben of Transylvania in Austria-Hungary, reflecting the tinctures of the coat-of-arms |
 As part of the coat of arms of Hungary before the |
 As in the coat of arms of Romania at present |
The Transylvanian plateau, 300 to 500 metres (1,000-1,600 feet) high, is drained by the Mureş, Someş, Criş, and Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. This core of historical Transylvania roughly corresponds with nine counties of modern Romania. Other areas to the west and north, which also united with Romania in 1918 (inside the border established by peace treaties in 1919-20), are since that time widely considered part of Transylvania.
See also Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary. In common reference, the Western border of Transylvania has come to be identified with the present Romanian-Hungarian border, settled in the Treaty of Trianon, although geographically the two are not identical.
![Map of Romania with Transylvania. The light yellow areas correspond to the core territory of the historic Principality. The historical regions of Crişana and Maramureş (see also Partium), and the Romanian section of the Banat, marked in dark yellow, are also considered part of Transylvania today.[citation needed]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/4/49/TransylvaniaProper.png)
The historical region covers 16 present-day counties (Romanian: judeţ) which include nearly 103 600 km² of central and northwest Romania. The 16 counties are:
The most populous cities are:
According to the 2002 census, Transylvania has a population of 7,221,733, with a large Romanian majority (74.69%). In addition, there are also sizeable Hungarian (19.60%), Roma (3.39%), German (0.73%) and Serb (0.1%) communities. [1] [2] Fourteen of the 16 counties have Romanian majorities, and two (Covasna and Harghita) are mostly Hungarian.
The percentage of Romanians has increased since the union of Transylvania with Romania (1918). This is due to three processes: emigration of minority populations (1,000,000 Germans, Hungarians and Jews have left the country since WWII[citation needed]), assimilation, and internal migration within Romania (estimates show that between 1945 and 1977, some 630,000 people have moved from the Regat to Transylvania, and 250,000 from Transylvania to the Regat, most notably to Bucharest).[3] The assimilation process slowed down during the first stages of the communist era (see Hungarian Autonomous Province) and then accelerated under the Ceauşescu regime.
For people connected to Transylvania's cultural life, see: List of Transylvanians.
Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt, and sulfur.
There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production, and fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource.
Transylvania accounts for around 35% of Romania's GDP, and has a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $11,500, around 10% higher than the Romanian average.
 Arad cultural center |
 Arad Evangelical church |
 Black Church in Braşov |
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 Braşov Council Square (Piaţa Sfatului) |
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 The Theatre in Oradea |
 The town hall in Oradea |
 Dacia Hotel in Satu Mare |
 View of Sibiu |
 Sighişoara clock tower |
 View of Sighişoara |
 Orthodox Cathedral in Timişoara |
 The Catholic Cathedral in Timişoara |
In much of the Western world, Transylvania is famously the home of Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Transylvania". Read more |
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